The Promised Neverland Season 2 Episode 2: Recap and Review — Otaku Orbit
Mujika and Sonju are the demon rescuers of the orphans. They don’t eat humans for religious reasons. They eat everything else. Mujika and Sonju reject the demon’s society farming system. Sonju tells them an “old tale.” Demons used to hunt humans. Some humans surrendered, while others killed demons. Eventually, the number of demons killed by humans surpassed the number of humans killed by demons. The death toll became too much. So they formed a compromise. They will split the world in half, demons on one side, humans on the other. The orphans were born on the demon’s side. They’re the offspring of “gifts” given to the demon world. The demons established a “breeding system” to farm humans. That was over 1000 years ago.
Emma and Ray are at first stunned. Then their faces shift to the excitement. If there’s a separate world for humans, then there’s hope. However, Sonju tells them that “no one’s come and gone between the two worlds in 1000 years.” This doesn’t change their plan. Emma believes they will simply get to the human world. The Promised Neverland gives us what we’ve been waiting for information about the larger world. How the farming system came to be and what happened to the humans. They create a new obstacle. No human has passed through to the human world. So as they answer old questions, they create new ones. There is confirmation of other farms besides Grace Field. Emma and the others plan to rescue all the children there, but first, they need to find Mr. Minerva and ask him “how to cross to the world without humans.”
How to kill a living being
The Promised Neverland recreates the dynamic that existed inside Grace Field. Emma, the optimist, wants to rescue everyone. However, Ray isn’t an obstacle this time. Emma also accepts the difficulty of her plan. She still has hope and will “not let anyone die.” Sonju gives them directions out of the forest. He tells them they need to “detour” to avoid wild demons. Instead, they should head through the wasteland. Meanwhile, Mujika and Sonju teach them how to survive on the outside. They continue to travel. When Sonju goes to check the surface alone, Emma joins him. Emma has an ulterior motive. She wants to learn how to “kill a living being.” When Emma gets her first kill, she prays over her prey. She notes that “they don’t want to be eaten, but have been eating others.” It never occurred to me that The Promised Neverland was a commentary on human eating meat.
We could compare Mujika and Sonju to vegans or vegetarians. They evade consuming the most “natural” food of the demons, humans. They do so for a “higher purpose.” Emma knows that they (humans) are hypocrites. However, she and the other must each in order to survive. Emma is maturing, but she doesn’t lose her kindness. Emma collapses. It reminds her of Conny when the flower blooms. Sonju assures her they didn’t suffer. I think he’s lying, but it’s a good lie.
Originally published at https://otakuorbit.com on January 22, 2021.
